Family by God&#039;s Design

3 Activities for A Happy Family

In the midst of everything happening in our world today, it seems like we have to make a conscious effort to pursue happiness, even with our families. Fortunately, there are simple activities we can engage in to pursue happiness. We can make them part of our family routines and help the whole family develop a...

Celebration

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December 6, 2021

Want a Happy Family? Quit Trying to Find Happiness

We all want our families to experience happiness. Well, I know I want my family to experience happiness. I assume you do too. But happiness is elusive. In fact, it often seems that the more we focus on finding happiness the less happiness we find. The quest for happiness becomes self-defeating and leaves us disappointed....

Celebration

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February 22, 2021

The New Order of “Awe-Walkers”

Would you like your family to experience more happiness? Less upset? Greater social connection? If you answer yes, the New Order of Awe-Walkers invites you to join their ranks. It’s free (well, I just made it up) and the required activities can be completed in as little as 15 minutes a week. I decided to...

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October 14, 2019

Does Your Child Have Low Self-Esteem? Try This!

Self-esteem is not easy to come by in today’s world. Our culture communicates that “ordinary” is not “good enough”…that self-esteem is based on performance, achievement, being better than the next guy. This leads to a self-esteem built on sand, shaky ground at best. The common answer to this problem is to shower our children with...

Family Shepherds

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April 29, 2019

Ancient Wisdom For Your Best Family Life

An ancient saying, included in many marriage ceremonies, states that “Love is not arrogant and does not boast.” In a roundabout way, research now supports the truth of this statement. I say “roundabout” because the truth of the statement comes by way of awe. We experience awe when we experience something that expands our view...

Celebration Honor

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October 24, 2016

4 Gifts Our Sons Desperately Need

I don’t want to come across as extreme or sound too alarmist, but look at these statistics. Males account for 77.9% of all suicides in the United States. That would suggest about 88 men commit suicide every day, one every 16 minutes! (Click here for more information ) Males make up 80% of fatal heroin...

Family Shepherds

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September 12, 2016

In Family It’s Survival of the Contented

Cornell University recently completed an interesting study about the “evolutionary advantage” of a positive attitude. They were able to simulate 40 generations of people while looking at the impact of attitude on survival. (Read a review here.) The results suggested that those who survived for multiple generations: Attached more importance to long-term happiness than to...

Celebration Honor

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November 4, 2012

Using the Power of Awe for Your Family

Take a moment to recall the last time you experienced something immense…so immense that it made you stand in awe…so immense that it led you to change your perception of the world. Perhaps you felt a sense of awe when you watched the gymnasts compete during the Olympics. Or, maybe you felt a sense of...